Dominion of Korx
The Dominion of Korx is an enterprising civilization that would do anything for a quick buck. It gained hyper-drive by fighting a proxy war against the Altarians for the Drath. The Korx are the ultimate capitalists. All matters of life are valued purely on economic terms; they are the galactic bankers, the interstellar financiers, the ones who always seem to come out of any deal on top. When it comes to matters of money, the Korx are ruthless and would sell their own mothers into slavery if they thought they could make a profit; in fact, in Korx society, selling one's mother into slavery is considered a sort of "rite of passage" for Korx children. It's a way, so to speak, of passing the baton to the next generation. To be poor in Korx society is to be nothing. Concepts such as charity, social justice, and redistribution of wealth are totally alien to the Korx. Those who fail to achieve their own financial success are considered unworthy to live and often are disposed of with little concern. Despite the Korx' lack of military prowess they are amongst the most powerful civilizations in the galaxy. They generally don't fight wars; their vast trading networks with other races tend to ensure that no one wants to jeopardize the galactic economy by going after the Korx. When there's a war to be fought, you can always count on the Korx to help finance it; they are simply too old and too rich to get involved in wars if they can avoid it. The Korx are the galactic mercenaries. They will sell anything, even themselves. To achieve interstellar travel they earned it the really old fashioned way; they bought it. They bought it from the Drath, paid for with the lives of millions of their poor, sent to their deaths in a futile war with the Altarians. The Drath offered the technology for interstellar travel to the Korx in exchange for the Korx disrupting the Altarian military enough to allow the Drath to conquer the Altarian home world. Unfortunately, the Korx aren't really a warrior race so the Altarians, with help from the humans, thwarted this plan. But like in so many other deals, despite disaster, the Korx ended up on top: they still ended up with the hyperdrive technology they needed to expand their economic empire into the galaxy. Race Info *Official Name: Dominion of Korx *Alignment: Evil (5) *Short name: Korx *Leader: Kralax of Korx *Homeworld: Korx (or Korlath) - Class 10 (13 when fully terraformed) * Adjacent Habitable Planet: Mercenary - Class 8 (11 when fully terraformed in TA) *Homestar: Oxor Starting Technologies *Galactic Warfare *HyperDrive *Xeno Engineering *Ion Drive *Stellar Cartography Racial bonuses Dread Lords * Economics: +15 (inherent bonus) *Trade: +25 (inherent bonus) * Soldiering: +10 * Trade Routes: +3 * Courage: +10 (inherent bonus) *Logistics: +6 (inherent bonus, not removable) *Left over points for customization: 0 Inherent bonuses are special bonuses that each preset race has on the top of the standard 10 points. You can remove all other bonuses to yield the standard total of 10 point available for customization. The inherent bonus will disappear if you try to customize that ability by selecting an option (whether higher or lower in value) in that category. In the expansions, all the bonuses stack. Dark Avatar * Economics: +15 * Trade: +50 * Trade Routes: +3 * Courage: +10 *Logistics: +6 *Left over points for customization: 10 Super Ability: Super Trader Twilight of the Arnor *Trade: +50 *Trade Routes: +3 *Loyalty: -20 *Logistics: +6 *Inherent ability point equivalency: 16 *Left over points for customization: 10 Super Ability: Super Trader Note that, in Twilight of the Arnor, the Korx have a penalty to their loyalty, causing their planets and mines to culturally flip more easily than that of anyone else. Make sure you watch out for high culture races, such as the Torians, Terrans, and Krynn. This can be countered by playing to the Korx's strengths, however. When this race's trade revenue bonuses (+50%, +3 trade routes) and Super Trader ability (+?%, all trade techs) are combined with the Mercantile Party (+20%), Neutral Alignment (+10%, +3 trade routes) and enhanced Economic Starbases (+60%), you can pretty much drop taxes as you ratchet up your trade routes to supplement early on. Low taxes => high morale => high population => high influence => low pressure to flip High morale => low demand for morale buildings => room for labs/influence/farms High priority buildings: Privateers/influence/diplomacy. Low priority buildings: banks/morale. Suggested custom points: military production (freighters), research (lots of extra money lying around for it), pop growth (raises trade revenue), morale (raises population), influence (indirectly counteracts loyalty penalty), diplomacy (lowers the threat of war). Suggested techs: early engines and life support (gets freighters far afield ASAP), Good & Evil (going neutral also helps you avoid the messy good-evil war thing), diplomacy (influence starbases, avoid wars), and techs that enhance freighters and make purchasing ships cheaper. Your extensive trading also affects other race's revenues and diplomatic leanings directly, so it allows for a further degree of inter-racial manipulation not usually recognized. Bear in mind that losing an inter galactic vote early on in the game can limit your number of trade routes, knee-capping your progress. External Links * IGN's article on the Korx Consortium Category:Major races